Sex in the school house

 Sex in the school house

What’s going on here?   School used to be a safe place.   In the last couple of months alone, there have been three notable sexual offenses by professional staff in three different large school districts in Maryland.

The Montgomery County Public Schools have begun settlements with multiple staff members who were sexually assaulted by their principal.  Complaints were made by the staff.   Complaints were not only ignored by central administration the principal was up for a big promotion.  That was too much.  Teachers began to go public.  Of course, central admin insisted they knew nothing. Big question is WHY they knew nothing since complaints had been filed?  Now months later, the principal is out and the school system is out multiple thousands of dollars as they make financial settlements with the staff who were assaulted.

In Anne Arundel County, a middle school teacher has been charged with sexually abusing young girls from his school.  He has been charged and the judge refused to allow bail.  Had he not been fully charged and only accused he would still be working for the school district and receiving his full salary.   All of the major school districts have these bunkhouse rooms for staff who have been alleged to have committed misdeeds.   It’s sort of the land of administrative purgatory.  The person is not safe in the school but neither is he/she out of a job.  Gotta love the unions.  So the individual is assigned to a workspace room where they supposedly are working on curriculum.  A woman I know who was assigned there loved it.  She was a principal.  She said she didn’t need to arrive until 8.  There were no angry phone calls or annoying staff, or misbehaving students.  They just worked on whatever curriculum happened to be in process at the time.  They had mid-morning, lunch and mid-afternoon breaks.  They left at 4 and there was no work that needed doing that evening. And no evening meetings either.   They got their full salary and benefits.  She was disappointed when the investigation of her misdeeds was finished after just three months and she had to go back to work to actually earn her salary.  

The Anne Arundel County teacher didn’t get that kind of break because the charges against him were handled by the police.

Then there is the teacher in Prince George’s County.  He doesn’t understand why he is being accused of a misdeed.   He posted a video online of several of his girl students braiding his hair and painting his fingernails.  The little girls (8-10 year olds) were gathered around him laughing and happy.  Now there are people who consider that inappropriate behavior for a teacher.  He does not.  He claims the child painting his nails wants to be a nail technician when she grows up so this was a kind of vocational exploration.  You can’t make this stuff up!   Parents who saw the video on line were concerned.  Is this the meaning of helicopter parents?  Or was this grooming behavior on the part of the teacher?

Of course, the union is protecting him too even though the behavior does violate the schools system’s code of professional conduct.

Parents teach their kids all about stranger danger.   We never think that these “strangers” may be lurking in our school rooms as qualified professionals.   Maryland law requires fingerprinting prior to employment and attestation by all previous employers if you worked with children that there were no sexual offenses. 

Seems some folks are slipping through all those gateskeepers.   Doesn’t matter who the adult is, sex in the church, sex in the school house- Just say no.